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I promised that I would give you some additional study resources, here they are. These will serve as an introduction to the hermeneutical (Bible study) process and help you to think more systematically when studying. I hope these are helpful, Thursday I’ll post the resources for researching historical and literary context. I’m working to make sure that pos will go up right after class and not a week later.
A Basic Guide is very approachable, very easy to understand, and a great introduction for anyone new to this. I would suggest Grasping God’s Word as a great introductory tool that is very comprehensive (more than Basic Guide) yet approachable. This was my wife’s hermeneutic’s textbook in college. The final book A General Introduction to the Bible will help you to understand how we got the Bible in its current form and is a good primer on the theology concerning God’s word. This book is a little dated and has more information than you would care for, but it is very readable.

The phrase “You the man” is seen in a completely different light after reading this! I pray that I would not be that man. Only God’s inspiration in Nathan’s surrender could have resulted in this type of repentance. David had already killed one man, what would stop him from killing Nathan? Only God! There are a lot of historical questions here, rich and poor, customs, shepherding, what kind of authority would David had. There is another question that perplexes, “Why did the child have to die?” We also need to research the context in David’s life to see how Nathan’s complete prophecy is played out through the ordeal with Absalom. What do you see in this text?

This passage inspires me to continue in faithful service to God – if Paul could endure these hardships surely I can with God survive mine! Acts and other narrative passages contain a lot of historical information that we need to research. Some of the historical material includes the places: Ephesus, Asia, Miletus, and Jerusalem. Knowing about houses, customs of traveling teachers, ship travel, and prison would give us great information. We also would probably want to compare this brief narrative with the letter to the Ephesians. These are some of my observations, what about yours?

I pray that I would be one of those who are counted righteous and secure according to Psalm 112. This Psalm (and others like it) raises many questions about whether these are God’s promises or principles. Will the righteous really never be moved? Are they physically secure in this life or are their hearts steadfast regardless of their situation? We’ll talk about this later in our Wednesday night class. Some key words in here I think are righteousness, and some of the adjectives describing them and their position. It might be helpful to know historically where this Psalm is placed (if it can be at all) as it mentions the “land.” Is this their homeland or are they in captivity? What is the role of righteousness and giving, particularly to the poor? These are some of my questions what are yours?